Harvard`s Samuel P. Huntington, whose death at the age of 81 has just been announced, played a quiet but significant role in the genesis of VDARE.COM. After patriotic immigration reformers were purged from National Review in 1997-8, I went to see Huntington at Harvard with Scott McConnell (who subsequently went off to launchThe American Conservative). We knew that Huntington would sympathetic because of the implications of his 1996 book The Clash of Civilizations and he did kindly agree to endorse our webzine project. His support was critical in obtaining the support of a key donor.

Presumably because of his academic eminence, Huntington never quite attracted the vituperation normally used to suppress his - our - arguments. Of course, he never drove home his conclusions either. But his help to us was heroic and I remain deeply grateful.